Korean Single-Person Households Spend 39% of Income on Living Costs, Slash Food and Leisure

The Quick Take

• Korean single-person households spend 39.3% of monthly income on living costs, according to a KB Financial Group survey of 2,000 adults, with renters bearing housing costs double those of homeowners.
• Rising monthly rent burden is forcing single-person households to cut food spending and leisure activities — the first broad consumer spending squeeze survey to surface for South Korea in 2026.
• The KB data signals structural consumer stress in Korea's one-person household segment, which accounts for over 30% of all Korean households and is the fastest-growing household type.

Synthesized from 2 sources.

South Korean single-person households are spending approximately 39.3% of their monthly income on living expenses, according to a comprehensive KB Financial Group Management Research Institute survey of 2,000 Korean adults aged 25-59. The research reveals a deepening affordability squeeze: renters in this demographic face housing costs — monthly rent plus management fees — more than double those of homeowners, consuming a disproportionate share of disposable income and forcing systematic cuts in food spending and leisure activities. The survey, conducted from February 25 to March 23, provides one of the most granular snapshots of consumer spending stress in Korea's single-person household segment in the current economic cycle.

The demographic significance of the finding is substantial. Single-person households now constitute more than 30% of all Korean households and represent the fastest-growing household formation type, driven by later marriage ages, rising divorce rates, and an aging population of solo retirees. This cohort's spending behavior directly affects Korean consumer discretionary companies — convenience store chains (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven Korea), food delivery platforms (Baemin, Coupang Eats), meal kit providers, and budget food and beverage brands all index heavily to single-person household consumption patterns. A sustained squeeze in this segment's discretionary spending creates headwinds for the consumer growth thesis in Korean domestic equities.

The rental market dynamic embedded in the KB survey is particularly significant: Korea's jeonse (lump-sum deposit rental) system has been shifting toward monthly rent (weolse) arrangements as property prices softened, and the transition has pushed rental cash-flow obligations higher for those without the capital for a jeonse deposit. This structural shift in the housing-cost composition for renters is now visibly flowing through to consumer spending behavior. Watch Korean Q2 consumer sentiment indices, particularly retail sales data from Statistics Korea and the Bank of Korea's household income survey, for confirmation that the KB survey's findings are translating into macroeconomic consumption contraction rather than remaining isolated to the survey sample.